OS X image editor Acorn hits version 4 with 150 new features

Performance enhancements are also part of the fourth major release.

Indie image editor Acorn has received a major update to version 4.0, bringing with it a number of new tools and UI updates that should satisfy new and longtime users. The release, available for $29.99 throughout the month of May from the Mac App Store (regularly $49.99), boasts 150 new features, including an improved filter interface, non-destructive filters, a new curves adjustment tool, and more.

Acorn creator Gus Mueller says Acorn 4 also comes with new shape features that allow you to better control your vector layers. There's also a new "skinny tools palette," which essentially splits the old unified palette so editing tools are on the left and inspector tools are on the right of the canvas. "Why the change? Acorn 4 includes more tools, and the end result was too much good stuff to fit in a single palette," the company said in a statement.

Those are just a taste of the changes included with Acorn 4, but Flying Meat Software (the company responsible for Acorn) also pointed out that the Mac software comes with a number of performance improvements that should result in faster drawing, editing, and filter operations. A full list of changes can be found via Acorn's release notes. And if you're not ready to commit to a $30 purchase, there's also a 14-day free trial available via Flying Meat's website.

Promoted Comments

Do any of you also use Pixelmator? I use Pixelmator and am considering Acorn, but would love to know how they compare.

Same here. I asked on Verge. I'll ask here. I really trust ars commenters. The things I dislike about Pixelmator and prefer in GIMP (and truly prefer in the unaffordable Photoshop) are:

(1) Pixelmator's marching ants suck out loud. I drop out of Pixelmator and into GIMP at times, just to make a selection, copy it, and hop back to Pixelmator with the result, just because I can see the danged ants.

Do any of you also use Pixelmator? I use Pixelmator and am considering Acorn, but would love to know how they compare.

Same here. I asked on Verge. I'll ask here. I really trust ars commenters. The things I dislike about Pixelmator and prefer in GIMP (and truly prefer in the unaffordable Photoshop) are:

(1) Pixelmator's marching ants suck out loud. I drop out of Pixelmator and into GIMP at times, just to make a selection, copy it, and hop back to Pixelmator with the result, just because I can see the danged ants.

I recently purchased the latter to do simple vector graphics outside of CS, but find it maybe a bit too simple; difficult to build precise, complex curves and perspectives, and the shading is a bit rudimentary.

If Acorn is better, I'd give it a try. Thanks in advance for offering any opinions/observations.

Do any of you also use Pixelmator? I use Pixelmator and am considering Acorn, but would love to know how they compare.

Same here. I asked on Verge. I'll ask here. I really trust ars commenters. The things I dislike about Pixelmator and prefer in GIMP (and truly prefer in the unaffordable Photoshop) are:

(1) Pixelmator's marching ants suck out loud. I drop out of Pixelmator and into GIMP at times, just to make a selection, copy it, and hop back to Pixelmator with the result, just because I can see the danged ants.

(3) Pixelmator's lasso has no intelligence and is sometimes shaky, jumping across the shape from the beginning to the point of progress.

(4) Pixelmator can make subtle alterations in the start/end colors of a gradient. GIMP stays precise.

We're not among the rich and famous who can afford to keep up with Photoshop. But I surely wish there were a substitute for its fast and easy-to-use Bridge.

Same here. I use CS, Gimp (verses more PS licenses I can't afford) and have tried Pixemator but found it kind of buggy. As noted elsewhere, i recently purchased iDraw but find it a bit limited too, so would consider Acorn to do simple vector graphics such as logos.

Same here. I use CS, Gimp (verses more PS licenses I can't afford) and have tried Pixemator but found it kind of buggy. As noted elsewhere, i recently purchased iDraw but find it a bit limited too, so would consider Acorn to do simple vector graphics such as logos.

For vector stuff you might want to consider Intaglio. I've been using it for the best part of a decade now. Admittedly my needs aren't very complex; mostly just annotating and labelling figs for publication, but it gets the job done.

I'm guessing this is not an upgrade to version 3 but a new app in the Mac App Store. I wonder if they'll still be releasing bug and performance fixes for version 3 via the App Store.

No, there won't be any updates or bug fixes for Acorn 3. How can I be sure? Because the previous version of Acorn has been removed from the MAS. I just checked to see if this was a paid upgrade or what the situation was, and when I select Acorn from my Purchases I am told “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the U. S. store.”

If you want Acorn, it is now listed as “Acorn 4”. While I can understand the desire to remove the previous version to make it less confusing for customers, previous users are now abandoned, and previous versions of the software are now orphaned. By removing it from the MAS, there is no way to update existing installations.

I really wish developers wouldn't do this, as it's a bit of a slap in the face to customers. What if I was happy with Acorn 3, and wanted to install it on a newly purchased computer? Guess what? I can't, because the developer wants me to upgrade, and refuses to support previous customers.

I know I'm dating myself with this question, but does anyone know of an inexpensive Adobe LiveMotion equivalent for OS X? I don't care about the Flash crap part of it - I used it for web buttons, icons, cartoon construction, etc. It had really nice f/x you could apply on a layer-by-layer basis.

I agree with the comments on Pixelmator. It's got some nice things going for it, but it does appear to be a little too buggy for me to depend on. It's caused a lot of swearing on my part, at least!

I really wish developers wouldn't do this, as it's a bit of a slap in the face to customers. What if I was happy with Acorn 3, and wanted to install it on a newly purchased computer? Guess what? I can't, because the developer wants me to upgrade, and refuses to support previous customers.

This is an App Store limitation. You can obtain (and upgrade) older versions of Acorn via the Flying Meat Store.

I really wish developers wouldn't do this, as it's a bit of a slap in the face to customers. What if I was happy with Acorn 3, and wanted to install it on a newly purchased computer? Guess what? I can't, because the developer wants me to upgrade, and refuses to support previous customers.

This is an App Store limitation. You can obtain (and upgrade) older versions of Acorn via the Flying Meat Store.

Correct.

And Gus at Flying Meat is extremely responsive. I've had to contact FM (on my own, prior to being a World Famous Journalist(TM)) and he's always been extremely friendly and helpful. The MAS limits you to only having a single version of your application for sale (notwithstanding "Free" vs. "Pro" apps), but the non-MAS version is still available.

As far as the 3->4 upgrade being paid, I certainly don't begrudge anyone charging to earn a living. Acorn 3.0 came out in, what, the middle of 2011? This is a major upgrade and it's absolutely fair to charge for it. It is in no way a "slap in the face."

I really wish developers wouldn't do this, as it's a bit of a slap in the face to customers. What if I was happy with Acorn 3, and wanted to install it on a newly purchased computer? Guess what? I can't, because the developer wants me to upgrade, and refuses to support previous customers.

This is an App Store limitation. You can obtain (and upgrade) older versions of Acorn via the Flying Meat Store.

Correct.

And Gus at Flying Meat is extremely responsive. I've had to contact FM (on my own, prior to being a World Famous Journalist(TM)) and he's always been extremely friendly and helpful. The MAS limits you to only having a single version of your application for sale (notwithstanding "Free" vs. "Pro" apps), but the non-MAS version is still available.

As far as the 3->4 upgrade being paid, I certainly don't begrudge anyone charging to earn a living. Acorn 3.0 came out in, what, the middle of 2011? This is a major upgrade and it's absolutely fair to charge for it. It is in no way a "slap in the face."

I believe the slap comes not from the lack of upgrade pricing, but the inability to get the old version you already purchased.

The complaint is not "I deserve a copy of the new version without paying for it." The complaint is "I paid for the old version, why can't I use it anymore?" which is valid if, for example, you get a new computer or your hard drive dies; you are no longer able to get the old version at all.

I got Acorn in that bundle most got it, and it's been my main tool for quick edits. It has a better magic wand than Pixelmator (default fuzziness is better, basically), while Pixelmator has that healing tool to remove people from photos. So far I've been using Pixelmator to tweak photos occasionally (great photo-related filters, the healing and more), and Acorn to cut/merge art for web/sprite sheets (better edge detection, and I prefer the interface). Not upgraded to 4.x yet, but it looks likely I'll be happy with that, especially with all the vector functionality.

Pixelmator 2 has another edge over Acorn 3: Saved PNGs are as small as can be, more or less. Acorn 3.x seems to add a large chunk of extra data (418k PNG saves as 633k, returns to 418k when saved as a copy from Pixelmator). I finalise all my images with ImageOptim anyway before pushing to web.

The complaint is not "I deserve a copy of the new version without paying for it." The complaint is "I paid for the old version, why can't I use it anymore?" which is valid if, for example, you get a new computer or your hard drive dies; you are no longer able to get the old version at all.

Again, that's not quite true. While you can't reinstall the older version from the MAS, you can get the older version directly from the creator's site. Your MAS store receipt or other proof of purchase should be all it'll take to get FM to send you a license key that corresponds with the one you purchased.

It's more work than just a single-click MAS store reinstall, 100% agreed. But this one's squarely Apple's fault.

I believe the slap comes not from the lack of upgrade pricing, but the inability to get the old version you already purchased.

The complaint is not "I deserve a copy of the new version without paying for it." The complaint is "I paid for the old version, why can't I use it anymore?" which is valid if, for example, you get a new computer or your hard drive dies; you are no longer able to get the old version at all.

I don't believe this is true. I purchased Acorn 4 but I also went to my "Purchases" tab in the Mac App Store and the old version of Acorn was there. I clicked "Download" and it downloaded Acorn 3.5.1 to your computer.

So it's still up there right now. You may not be able to find it in search, but if you go to your purchases tab you'll find it, and can download it to any of your machines.

Again, that's not quite true. While you can't reinstall the older version from the MAS, you can get the older version directly from the creator's site. Your MAS store receipt or other proof of purchase should be all it'll take to get FM to send you a license key that corresponds with the one you purchased.

It's more work than just a single-click MAS store reinstall, 100% agreed. But this one's squarely Apple's fault.

See my response. Not Apple's fault, either. Acorn 3.5.1 is still available for download from the Mac App Store on any/all machines if you're purchased it. Check your purchases tab.

Do any of you also use Pixelmator? I use Pixelmator and am considering Acorn, but would love to know how they compare.

I use both, but I tend to use Acorn more often when I just need something quick to jump in and out. I've been updating a client's ecommerce site and Acorn's instant alpha (same tech used in Keynote if I'm not mistaken) made it a breeze to open a jpeg, drop the background out, and save out a png with transparency. Pixelmator has something similar with their Magic Eraser, but the interface just doesn't lend itself as readily to quickly going through a bunch of images.

Honestly, about the only thing I still use Pixelmator for, over Acorn is the ability to select and merge multiple layers. Acorn 3.x only lets you select one layer at a time, so unless you want to merge all layers, you need to hide the ones you don't want merged when you do a "merge visible". Pretty annoying. Also Acorn lacks a healing brush. This will be less of a problem with Lightroom 5 on the way (and I can always use Photoshop proper when I need to), so I'll probably skip Pixelmator 3 whenever it comes around now that Acorn can select multiple layers (I'm assuming that also means adding a "merge selected" option).

I also love Acorn's layered screenshots. It's the same concept of Layers, just integrated into Acorn so you don't have to have a separate program. I don't use it that often, which makes not having to buy yet another product nice, but it's handy when needed.

As long as it's not MAS only, I'm definitely going to upgrade from 3.x. Looks like he's still selling it from his own shop, too because I see a bug fix was also released today. Bet that's not in the MAS version yet.

I'm guessing this is not an upgrade to version 3 but a new app in the Mac App Store. I wonder if they'll still be releasing bug and performance fixes for version 3 via the App Store.

No, there won't be any updates or bug fixes for Acorn 3. How can I be sure? Because the previous version of Acorn has been removed from the MAS.

…

I really wish developers wouldn't do this, as it's a bit of a slap in the face to customers. What if I was happy with Acorn 3, and wanted to install it on a newly purchased computer? Guess what? I can't, because the developer wants me to upgrade, and refuses to support previous customers.

There's a bit of damned if you do, damned if you don't — if a user sees the old version and buys it, then discovers a new one is out, they get really pissed off. You can't solve that by setting the old one to a crazy price, either — then someone sees the price and mentally writes off using that app.

The MAS should allow paid upgrades (with discounts), and let devs patch old versions for bug and security fixes. But I doubt it ever will

I know I'm dating myself with this question, but does anyone know of an inexpensive Adobe LiveMotion equivalent for OS X? I don't care about the Flash crap part of it - I used it for web buttons, icons, cartoon construction, etc. It had really nice f/x you could apply on a layer-by-layer basis.

You might look into Adobe Edge Animate. From what I have read, it is a new program intended for CSS-based animation for the Web (no Flash, I think). It says it's included with a free Creative Cloud account. That is all I know. I've never used it.http://html.adobe.com/edge/animate/

I bought both Acorn and Pixelmator when they were brand new. Both worked great, but in the end Pixelmator won for the simple/stupid reason that Acorn's massive tool palettes made it difficult to use on a small (13" laptop) screen. If 'skinny tool palettes' is part of the update it might be time to check it out again.